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Impact of Reducing Eligibility for HUSKY Parents from 155% of FPL to 138% of FPL

Background

Connecticut currently offers Medicaid (HUSKY A) to parents whose income is at or below 155 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). HUSKY eligibility for parents was rolled back in 2015, when the income limit was reduced from 201 percent of FPL to 155 percent.

Most parents (about 17,000) affected by that change lost their eligibility as of August 1, 2016. As of December 2016, 16 percent of the group had enrolled in an Access Health CT plan; 39 percent were still covered by Medicaid. The fate of the remaining 45 percent of the group – how many have coverage from another source and how many are uninsured – is unknown.

Key Findings

This change in eligibility would impact 9,500 parents, who would lose their coverage through HUSKY and instead need to purchase federally subsidized insurance through Access Health CT, Connecticut’s insurance marketplace.

The average increase in expenses would be over $1,200 dollars per year, about $100 per month, or about 4 percent of the income for an average family in this group.

If past experience were to hold for the parents affected by the proposed reduction to 138 percent FPL, then about 1,500 of the 9,500 would enroll in AHCT coverage, and about 3,700 would retain HUSKY eligibility. The remaining 4,300 would likely go uninsured.